1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to an apparatus for imparting rolling motion to a spherical object and directing said object along a desired path, and more particularly to a golfing putter for putting a golf ball.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are a great variety of golfing putters available to those who play the game of golf. Although different weights and clubhead configurations exist, traditionally most golf putters are constructed so that the golfer is required to stand perpendicular to the intended line of travel of the ball and to bend well over the ball while stroking. Examples of such types of conventional putters are disclosed by the following U.S. Patents:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Patentee Issue Date ______________________________________ 3,574,349 Kropp 4/13/71 3,652,093 Reuter 3/28/72 3,679,207 Florian 7/25/72 3,989,257 Barr 11/02/76 ______________________________________
Although the Florian putter is shown as being used in a croquet style by the golfer, the clubhead and shaft relationship is conventional. Unfortunately, these conventional putters have presented difficulties to both amateur and professional golfers. To coordinate the golfer's stance, eyesight alignment, clubhead movement, and clubhead angle at impact so that the ball moves along its intended path for the desired distance, takes many hours of practice in order to achieve even marginal success. In an effort to make "lining-up" of a putt somewhat easier, certain golfers have preferred to use a croquet-style putter. This style allows the golfer to stand with one foot positioned on each side of a line coincident with the intended path of travel for the ball and to sight directly through the ball rather than standing at a right angle and slightly perpendicular to the intended path. However, in accordance with the "1977 Rules of Golf" as approved by the United States Golf Association (USGA), any putter which is intended to be "legal" for USGA sanctioned play shall be designed such that "the axis of the shaft from the top to a point not more than five inches above the sole shall diverge from the vertical by at least 10 degrees in relation to the horizontal line determining length of head." Consequently, unless a putter is designed with this side angle of at least 10 degrees, a feature conventional croquet-style putters do not have, it will not be a "legal" putter. The USGA rules also require that the golfer stand to one side of the intended path rather than being positioned such that a line extension of this intended path is located between the feet.
Examples of prior art devices which have come to my attention during my review of putter styles and which are typical of currently "illegal" designs are disclosed by the following U.S. patents:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Patentee Issue Date ______________________________________ Des. 203,756 Norwood 2/15/66 3,062,549 Duden 11/06/62 3,319,962 Summers 5/16/67 3,387,845 Raub 6/11/68 3,486,755 Hodge 12/30/69 ______________________________________
A further reference disclosing a putter having an "illegal" design is shown in "Golf World" magazine of June 19, 1964 on page 4.
In order to achieve the advantages of a croquet-style of putting and in order to conform to the current USGA rules, a putter shaft would have to be arranged such that it angled to the side by at least 10 degrees off of vertical as well as angled to the rear (away from the ball-striking putter face). Applicant is unaware of any putter designed in such a fashion.
As mentioned previously, one advantage of the croquet-style putter is that it enables the golfer to stand so that his line of sight is through the ball and coincident with the intended path of travel of the ball. However, since the golfer must stand to the side of this intended path of travel, one way that sighting in the manner described can be accomplished is to stand so that the feet, positioned behind the ball, are pointed in a direction parallel to this intended path and to lean to the side so that the golfer's head extends over the intended path of travel. Such a stance could be established irrespective of the putter used, but due to clubhead weight and balancing, most conventional putters swung from this stance will not perform acceptably and current croquet-style putters which are preferred for such a swing are illegal. A related problem to achieving the stance described above, is that with the use of a standard length putter, the golfer must bend at the waist a significant degree in order to be able to grip the club shaft. The contortions of standing to the side, bending well over and leaning to the side place the golfer in an unnatural and awkward position. In this position, it is difficult for the golfer to remain steady, a requisite for any good putting stroke. To avoid the need to bend at the waist, putters have been designed with elongated shafts, such as disclosed in the "Golf World" reference and by the prior Florian patent. However, although Florian discloses a golf putting technique which is similar in appearance to a "legal" croquet-style of swing, there are disadvantages with this design. The shaft in Florian is offset at a 10 degree angle to the side relative to the line of intended travel of the ball, but the shaft is not bent to the rear as a croquet-style putter is bent. The stance of the golfer makes it difficult to sight through the ball, as the golfer's eyes are not in line with the ball and the hole. As the club is drawn back, the 10 degree offset causes an arc to be swept around the golfer's body, and when the downward swing occurs, the clubhead control and a true pendulum motion are difficult to achieve.
A final feature of putters in general, and in particular putters having elongated shafts, is that the "feel" of the club as transmitted through the grips to the golfer's hands is important for control and accuracy. The farther the hands are placed from the point of impact to the ball, the more difficult the control of the putt. Thus, the "Golf World" reference and the Florian patent, which disclose elongated shafts, also disclose two gripping portions, the lower portion providing a gripping location closer to the point of impact. An equally important feature is the material used for the gripping portions. If the material is too soft or too hard, it may not transmit the necessary feel to the hands. It is preferred that putters which have the two gripping portions and which are swung in a croquet style, be pivoted by the hand on the upper grip and guided by the hand on the lower grip. Thus it would be an improvement to the prior art to construct the upper gripping portion out of a relatively soft, synthetic material enabling a secure and firm hold on the putter shaft, and the lower gripping portion to be constructed out of a harder synthetic material for greater sensitivity to the clubhead movement and ball impact. U.S. Pat. No. 1,213,014 issued to Rees also discloses a golf club shaft having two distinct grips. However, the purpose of these two grips is to allow the club swing to be controlled by selected fingers and for the other fingers to have virtually no effect as to this control. Rees does not disclose the use of the two grips for creating and controlling a croquet-style putting swing.
Inasmuch as applicant's invention makes reference in part to golf club grip designs and to clubhead designs as they relate to a "legal" croquet-style golf putter, the following patents are cited as pertaining to such features:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. PATENTEE ISSUE DATE ______________________________________ 2,133,695 Hall 10/18/38 474,058 Tingey (Great Britain) 10/25/37 Des 236,517 Cook 8/26/75 Des 235,564 Cook 6/24/75 Des 235,568 Cook 6/24/75 3,077,350 Koorland 2/12/63 3,539,184 Koorland 11/10/70 ______________________________________
A further clubhead design is shown by the advertising brochure of Chad Industries describing the "Nassau Perfect Putter". This brochure cites U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,758,115 and Des. 228,929 as applying to the product.
With respect to the various clubhead designs which are shown by these references, it is noted that none of the Cook or the Koorland patents show a shaft which exits from the approximate center of the clubhead in order to provide a more balanced club. Furthermore, none of the clubhead designs, including the "Nassau Perfect Putter" reference, show a shaft which both diverges from vertical (as per the "1977 Rules of Golf") for a legal design and bends to the rear in order to permit a croquet-style of putting.
The golf club grip designs shown by Hall and Tingey relate to grip construction and surface contouring respectively. Hall discloses a method of grip construction to produce a grip design which is intended for an overlapping style of grip. The concept is based on the use of grip materials having different coefficients of friction in order to reduce the effects of turning or twisting and to permit the guiding of the left hand to be unimpeded by the right hand. There is no mention in Hall of the use of separate gripping portions of different durometer hardness and different contours in order to provide a firm grip at one location and a sensitive feel at the other location. The Tingey patent discloses a grip design which incorporates a cavity for receiving the golfer's thumb. Such a design is suggestive of various club grip styles which have been disapproved by the USGA and which are shown on page 60 of the "1977 Rules of Golf".